Does this year's O-line resemble that of 2003?

by njny on Sep 4, 2010 8:37 AM EDT

For those of you who don't remember that season, the team finished 4-12, after starting the season 4-4. The year before, the team finished 10-6, made the playoffs as a wild card, and lost the opening round game in San Francisco in rather cruel fashion (I'm not giving any more details than that as I still haven't gotten over it, despite the Super Bowl win). 2003 would also be known as the last season Jim Fassel was the Head Coach of Big Blue.

The reason I ask whether or not this year's Giants' offensive line will resemble that of 2003 is because of the cloud of uncertainty that surrounds it as we go into the start of the season. The Giants would make a habit of shuffling the linemen every week after suffering a lackluster performance from the unit the week before. In week 6, Rich Seubert, the only consistent piece for the Giants on the line that season, would suffer a season-ending injury against the Eagles. As a result, the offensive-line shuffle would become more and more unpredictable as the season went along. With this, Kerry Collins would fail to get sufficient time to throw, Tiki Barber would consistently fumble the ball, and the team suffered as a whole.

Fast-forward to this season: coming off of a disappointing 2009, where the offensive line chronically under-performed, the Giants have shown very little clarity as to who will start & where on the offensive line this season. Jerry Reese has brought in free agent Shawn Andrews to help out this struggling unit. David Diehl has been moved from Left tackle to Guard, his original position when he was drafted in 2004.

Unfortunately, for the most part, the picture is still uncertain on the offensive line. Which brings me to ask the question, for those of you who can remember when Chris Bober was on the team: does this year's offensive line echo the situation from 2003? Or am I just being my typical pessimistic self...

Just to show that I'm not nuts, here's the list of players who played on the 2003 Giants offensive line:

Luke Petitgout (10 games), Wayne Lucier (11 games), Rich Seubert (6 games), Chris Bober (16 games), David Deihl (16 games), Ian Allen (16 games), Scott Peters (7 games), Omar Smith (4 games), Jeff Hatch (4 games), Carson Dach (16 games, no starts).

FanPosts are written by community members. This is simply a way for community members to express opinions too long to be contained in a comment.

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Comments

Not even close

difference is all 7 guys that have a shot at starting are all better then those in 2003. Pettigout was the only one that was any good on that line.

And while the OL did take a step back, the real problem with all a that is the RB’s were banged up.

If the RB’s are healthy, the OL will look more like 2008 then it would 2009.

Even with an injury here and there, having an OL that seems that its 7 deep now that Andrews may actually be sane (and may actually be better with him in there) is a completely different picture then 03.

by FreeBradshaw on Sep 4, 2010 8:53 AM EDT reply actions

I agree with Free

The guys we have to replace our starters if the unthinkable should happen are better than the guys back than.

Against all odds, against all circumstance were you don't have a shot, you succeed
All you hear about is the past, the past... the past is the !@#$ing past, this is the present.
THIS IS TEMPORARY! A CHAMPIONSHIP IS PERMANENT
-Michael Strahan

by Willgfass on Sep 4, 2010 9:03 AM EDT reply actions

In some respects, yes

just like 2003, our offensive line will be composed of five men on any given play, all weighing in over 250 pounds, who stand in front of a man whose job it is to throw a football to other players not on that line. They will all likely wear blue or white uniforms, depending on the location of the game, and their uniform numbers will range from 50-79.

Other than that, no…there will not be a lot of similarity.

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Sep 4, 2010 5:22 PM EDT reply actions